Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have many advantages over conventional light sources, such as incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lamps. These advantages include longer operating life, lower power consumption, and smaller size. Consequently, conventional light sources are increasingly being replaced with LEDs in traditional lighting applications. As an example, LEDs are currently being used in flashlights, camera flashes, traffic signal lights, automotive taillights, consumer electronics (e.g., mobile phones, smart phones, etc.), and display devices. LEDs are also becoming more prevalent in residential, commercial, and industrial lighting applications.
As a general trend, a very compact and small package for light sources is desired for consumer electronics such as mobile phones, smart phones, etc. The state of the art package today uses a carrier such as a leadframe, Printed Circuit Board (PCB), ceramic or silicon carrier etc. as a mounting base for the bare die LED. Normally a LED has two contact, a p- and n-contact, and the two contacts are usually on opposing sides of the LED die. Accordingly, one contact is normally contacted with conductive glue to the carrier and the other one (e.g., the contact on the opposing side of the LED die) is connected to the carrier via a bond wire. As can be appreciated, this type of packaging scheme places a physical limit on the package size, or more specifically how small the package can be produced.